Helping a Friend
by TheGreatDekuTree
Summary: Highschool AU in which Soul finds himself in an abusive relationship, and Maka must decide how to go about helping him without developing any feelings of her own.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

Chapter 1: Prologue

Maka's POV

Soul had been my friend for a very long time, since we were around 10. Our fathers were friends, and often I was dragged into going to the small parties his family threw. There were usually four or five families invited, and everyone would bring food. The adults and teenagers would sit around a large table that fit cozily in their small dining room, while he and I would sit at a small table in the adjoining living room. His mother would turn on a "perfectly lovely" show for us to watch, but looking back on it, I'm fairly certain it was really meant to drown out the drunken profanity that was being spewed by the men. We were awkward with one another at first, but soon we started getting along and sneaking off to his room to play video games. I started going over there on weekends when there weren't parties, just to hang out; then I started visiting after school also, and by the time we hit eighth grade I was at his house practically everyday.

There had never really been anything romantic between us. Sure, hormones were crazy, but neither of us saw the other one as anything special. He called me a bookworm and told me I had fat ankles, and I called him lazy and nagged him to study more. We fought a lot and were often not on good terms, but at the end of the day we were there for each other and always got over any arguments. The first time he was asked out by a girl in freshman year I felt a small tang of jealousy, but that could just be chalked up to my worries that I might have lost him as a friend. It was also a little less than a year after my parents' divorce, and I was quick to assume infidelity in men due to my father's newly discovered habit of sleeping around behind my mother's back. Ultimately Soul's relationship lasted no more than a few weeks and nothing extraordinary came of it.

After sophomore year Soul and I both wanted to attend a pretty prestigious high school a few hours away from our town. The school was meant to accept students from all over the nation so within its campus were apartments for sale. After begging my dad and his parents for weeks they finally decided that they'd pay for us to live in one of them. The semester started in late August, and we were set to move into our new place in July so that we'd be completely settled. The apartment was somewhat like a dorm in that it was partially furnished. There was a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and two bedrooms. The living room had a couch and tv, the kitchen had all the necessary appliances, and each bedroom had a twin sized bed along with a matching bookshelf and desk. Soul decorated his grey walls with music posters and filled his bookshelf with nicknacks and pictures. He had an electric keyboard off in one corner of his room, and his desk was covered with stray papers, sketches, and random textbooks; his floor was littered with dirty and clean clothes, and his bed was never made. My pale green walls were nearly empty, and my bookshelf was overflowing causing me to have neatly stacked books filling any unused areas. My desk and bed were kept clean, and my closet was perfectly organized. We met somewhere in the middle for the living room with posters hanging on the walls and a shelved coffee table filled with books.

We were happy when school started, and we ended up in the same class. We made friends quickly, and by Halloween Soul had his first serious girlfriend. Her name was Kate, and, to me, she was absolutely gorgeous. She was pale with long, messy hair that was light brown near the top and black at the ends. Her eyes were big and grey, her mouth was of average size with a slightly plump bottom lip, and her eyebrows were always perfectly arched and plucked. She was about two inches taller than me but still a good half a foot shorter than Soul. We met Kate after our school's October talent show in which she sang a relatively unknown Cage the Elephant song that Soul loved; he insisted we go talk to her to tell her how great she was, and I guess they really hit it off. Kate was cool with him having a roommate that was a girl and was at our apartment often to hang out with Soul. They seemed head of heels for each other, and up until that December night I thought nothing could possibly go wrong for them.


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note:_

_Hi guys, this is my first fic, so I hope you like it. I'll try to update once a week, but school can be crazy so we'll see what happens. Please feel free to review and correct me on anything._

_Also, I don't own Soul Eater or any of its characters._

_PS. Thank you so much for the reviews on the last chapter; it made me so excited to see that someone actually read it!_

* * *

Chapter 2

Maka was sitting quietly on her couch, reading a book one of her professors had suggested to her. It was about a man who fought dragons and saved villages, although, according to her teacher, if one were to read deeper, they would come to realize that the man is unnecessarily slaying the dragons to satisfy his own ego. Maka wasn't exactly convinced, but the story was entertaining nonetheless.

It was winter, and there was a light dusting of snow outside, making her glad to be indoors with her fuzzy socks on. She had made herself a cup of hot cocoa and had decided to just relax today because Soul was at Kate's apartment, and Maka knew he wouldn't be back to bother her for a few hours. She read for a little longer and then took a nice hot bath. She got out and made something to eat, and she was just back to reading when she heard the front door fly open.

"Soul?" she said, surprised by his sudden entrance. He shut the door quietly behind him and began taking his shoes off absent mindedly.

"I'm back," he said monotonically. He seemed kind of off to Maka, but she dismissed it as annoyance with the current below-freezing temperature.

"Did you have a nice time at Kate's place? Did she like the cookies I sent with you?" Maka started to think she was sounding like a mom asking her son about school.

He looked at her expressionless for a bit before pulling his mouth into a sloppy grin. "Everything went great, Maka." Then he stiffly turned around and walked into his room. She stared after him for a while before shrugging and returning to her book.

Maka heard no noise coming from Soul's room for at least an hour; she decided it would be best to check on him so she got up and walked to his door. She still heard absolutely no noise, no light snoring, no soft music, no angry rustling of papers. She knocked, disrupting the silence. No response came from the other side so she became worried and figured she should go on in to make sure Soul was still alive. He was sitting on his bed with his feet resting on the floor, staring at the wall. He made no reaction to Maka's entrance so she slowly went and sat next to him. "Are you alright, Soul?"

He nodded, but of course she highly doubted it was sincere. "Did you and Kate fight? You didn't break up, did you?"

This time he looked up at her and shook his head. "It's all my fault," he said, voice hoarse.

"I'm sure that's not true. It can't be _all _your fault. Unless you cheated on her... but I know you would never do that." Maka had started to lightly rub his back in an attempt to make him feel better.

Soul shook his head again and shut his eyes. "You don't get it. It's my fault. She's right; I'm a horrible boyfriend. I just didn't want to make her mad, but she's right. I don't care enough. I don't show enough love for her. I'm so insensitive; I deserve anything she does to me."

"What? Soul, did she do something to you?" She asked, confused by his choice of words.

Soul sat up straight and opened his eyes quickly. He looked at Maka, and she thought she saw fear in his expression before he smoothly lifted one eyebrow. "No. Of course not. We just got in a small fight. No big deal, really."

"But you seemed pretty upset just now, and-"

"Maka. Stop. I said it wasn't a big deal. You don't need to worry about anything," he said, cutting her off and standing up. "Now, I'm going to go shower, so you should leave."

"But Soul I-"

"Really, everything is fine," he cut her off again, but this time he smiled lightly while he spoke.

She was a bit unnerved by his sudden change in demeanor, but Maka complied and left his room without a word. She wasn't sure what had really happened between Soul and Kate. Soul seemed very shaken by it, but he also seemed unwilling or maybe unable to talk about it. She wandered back into her room before remembering she left her book on the couch. On her way to get it she passed the bathroom. The door was slightly open, and she saw Soul standing shirtless, brushing his teeth. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw a large bruise along his hip and stomach that looked to be caused by being kicked.

"Soul..."

His head whipped towards her voice, and he stared at her in shock for a second then quickly slammed the door in her face.

* * *

_This chapter is kind of short, but the next one will be longer hopefully. I just didn't want to keep people waiting. Please let me know what you think, even if you hate it!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Sorry for the wait! School's really crazy with AP exams coming up so it's hard to find a good time for writing, but I'll try to get chapters out quickly. Thank you to everyone who reviewed. It means so much to me. Enjoy~_

_I do not own Soul Eater._

* * *

Chapter 3

Soul had brushed off the large bruise on his stomach. He had said that he got in a wrestling match with his friends and things had gone too far. Maka wasn't the least bit convinced, but she allowed his lie to slide because obviously it wasn't something he was ready to talk about. Also she had no other reasonable explanation. She doubted he got into an actual fight; Soul was a very relaxed guy and rarely showed any strong emotion, therefore picking a fight with any of the guys at school was unthinkable. She really couldn't think of anyone who would kick Soul that hard.

On Monday they walked to school as they normally did, dressed in their school uniforms. Soul had on a black polo, khaki pants, and white and black checkered vans, while Maka had on a black hoodie, a red plaid skirt, and clunky black tennis shoes. The second they got in the door he ran off, and Maka assumed he was off to find Kate. That thought made her consider the things Soul had said Saturday night when she went into his room. _Who had he been talking about? Had it been Kate? Was she mad at him? Did she hurt him?_ Maka quickly dismissed the last question. Of course Kate hadn't hurt him; she was so nice and cool that Maka found it difficult to believe that she would ever lay a finger on someone else. _However, if it wasn't Kate, then who was it?_

She pondered this as she made her way to her locker. They had arrived an hour early so that she could go study in the classroom while he went off and did whatever. Sometimes he played piano in the music room, and other times he went to the art room and sculpted. Although no matter what, he always showed up with Kate on his arm. When Maka was done gathering her things she went off to class. She sat in the back, as always, and read; girls came up to talk to her every once in a while, and she was polite but was honestly more interested in her book than in being social. Maka liked the people in her class, but she never felt the need to be surrounded by them. She talked to Soul more than anyone else. Although he was the complete opposite in this aspect; he was constantly with someone, whether it be a group or just one close friend, he was never really alone. Even though he let everyone around him talk while he simply observed, he still somehow managed to seem actively engaged in conversations. He was easygoing and cool, and that made everyone naturally gravitate towards him.

On that particular rainy day he seemed very protective. Kate and he were talking to some of her friends, and he had his arm wrapped tightly around her waist. He would shift himself to be always facing whomever they were talking to. Kate would laugh cheerily, but Soul would merely grin and look down at her nervously. Of course no one but Maka noticed these changes in Soul's behavior. She had been his friend for a long time and knew how he usually acted. This made her think again of his massive bruise. Maybe he had gotten it defending Kate. That would explain why he didn't want to talk about it; knowing Soul he probably blamed himself for not fixing whatever had happened before it started. It also explained his attachment to Kate; he could be worried that she might get in trouble again. Maka nodded, satisfied with her keen deduction skills and decided to ask Soul once they got home.

She spent the rest of the day paying close attention in class, trying not to think about her upcoming confrontation of Soul. She knew she might start to worry about whether or not it was any of her business, and that could cause her to chicken out which ultimately wouldn't be good. She needed to make sure he was okay. When school was over he met her at her locker.

"Hey, you ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah. Do you want to head straight home or grab something to eat?"

"Uhh," he paused, seeming to weigh the options thoroughly. "Let's just go home; I'm beat."

When they got to the apartment Maka dropped her bag in her room and headed to the kitchen to make herself some tea. She was stirring in sugar and milk when she felt her elbow hit something behind her, then she heard a gasp of pain and turned around quickly to see Soul clutching his stomach.

"Idiot, why were you standing right behind me?"

"I just wanted to see what you were doing," he said, sounding pained.

"Did I hit your bruise?" she asked, and he nodded. She sighed. "Let me see how bad it's gotten. I can help you put ice on it."

"No, really it's fine," he said shaking his head and backing up.

"Soul, just let me help you. I'm your friend; it's my job."

He looked hesitant, but agreed quietly to let her see. He quickly pulled off his shirt, Maka closely inspected his torso. The blues and reds had deepened and the whole area looked to have swelled. She poked it lightly only to be yelled at by Soul for "hurting him intentionally". She started preparing ice to help make the swelling go down. "Um, look I don't believe you about getting into a fight with your friends. I know you wouldn't do something so stupid. Do you want to talk about what actually happened?"

"No, Maka, this really isn't something you need to make a big deal of. It's my own fault I got it," he said, his eyes looking tired.

"Well I was thinking about it and trying to figure out what actually happened, and you seemed really possesive of Kate today, so I thought maybe you got in a fight to protect her or something. If that's it you can tell me; it's not your fault I'm sure," she said as she lightly pressed the ice on his bruise making him wince.

"Maka, please drop it. I can't talk to you about this," he said. He looked so sad, and she wanted nothing more than to make him feel better. She stood up straight and wrapped her arms around his neck. He dropped his forehead onto her shoulder and let out a shaky breath.

"Soul, what is happening?"

"I can't," he whispered weakly into the crook of her neck. She sighed and stroked his hair. She decided to let him sort this out for now, knowing that questioning him any further would only make him upset.

"Why don't I make dinner tonight?" she asked. He slowly brought his head up.

"That'd be great," he said with a small smile before slipping his shirt back on carefully and leaving the kitchen.


End file.
